Ciara: 'Being a Mom Gave Me More Sexy Confidence'

 On Sunday, July 5, starting at 5:15 a.m. PT/8:15 a.m. ET, Yahoo Live will live stream Ciara and others from the New Look Wireless Festival in London. Tune in HERE to watch!

After more than a decade in the business, Ciara, who will turn 30 this year, has released Jackie, an album named after her mother and largely influenced by her own experience as a new mom. But while motherhood has changed Ciara's life in many ways, she hasn't toned down the sexiness one bit. She's appearing topless on her album cover, giving onstage lapdances to lucky male fans during her concerts, and channeling a young Janet Jackson at the BET Awards. If anything, she's feeling sexier than ever.

"For me, I can speak for myself: Being a mom gave me a bit more of sexy confidence," she tells Yahoo Music in a recent Backstage with Citi interview. "And it's not about what I'm wearing, it's just more of an internal feeling. I feel there's something very cool about being able to deliver a child, and being able to work hard to get yourself back to that place before you had that child. It's a rewarding feeling… If anything, I think the sexy gets turned up even more!"

A long-term career was always a goal for Ciara, who signed to LaFace Records in 2002. "I've always believed since the beginning. I wrote on a sheet of paper three things when I was young," she says. "The first was, one, I was going to get discovered. This was my goal sheet. Two, once I got discovered and got my deal, I would sell 3 to 4 million records. And the third one was to have longevity.

"And I got discovered, and I sold more than 3 to 4 million; I sold 5 million. And now, [I have] longevity. I think it's a testament to putting in the universe what you believe in. Writing down something can be very powerful; speaking something can be very powerful. A lot of things that happened to me, I spoke. So I am going to just continue to believe. I have tons of faith."